First days in Southern VA

 

Map of VA mountains and the two bike trails

Here are some memories of Peggy 6 years ago when we first took our new tandem down the New River Trail.

The last time we did the VA Creeper Trail was 29 years ago on our mountain bikes. We started from the top at Whitetop Mountain and peddled down to near Damascus, Peggy waited for me to bike backup to the top and get the RV and continue south.

2023

I awoke early and was able to get on the road at 7AM for my 420 mile drive to Galax, VA. Being a Saturday and Veteren's Day, the traffic was very light. Very few trucks even on the WV Turnpike. So with a stop for gas and a couple of other short stops I got to my destination Galax, VA at 2:30 PM,  It was a mostly sunny day but cool, 56^o 

I decided to stay overnight in a Lowes parking lot. They had good wi-fi and it was very quiet, as opposed to the big Walmart across the road which was very busy & noisy. I had overnighted here before with Peggy at about the same time of year 6 years ago when we did the same trail. I decided to treat myself to a great Mexican dinner at Tlaquepaque Mexican Restaurant. It's a really popular place with a huge menu of unique meals. I had the chicken chefs special which was basically a mexican stir fry dinner, it was huge and very good, I took my leftovers for a nice lunch tomorrow.

Chestnut Creek

Galax is in the foothills of the mountains and has a nice gravel bike trail that goes from town and winds along Chestnut Creek for 11 mi to a bridge across the New River. It was cool morning 34^o, so I waited to 10 am to do the New River State Park Trail. 

You can go upstream along the New River for 5.5 mi to Fries or downstream over 40 mi. I wanted to go downstream for about 3 mi to the Byllesby Dam but the trail was closed to replace some small bridges over the local creeks. I took my time and some pictures along the creek.

Chestnut Falls

                                                         

When I got back to the RV, I had my great Mexican leftovers and relaxed for an hour before driving the very windy road to Damascus where I will camp for the night behind the shuttle service that I will use tomorrow to take me up to Whitetop Mountain, the start of the 17 mi VA Creeper Trail, where I will coast and pedal back to my RV.

New River